ILOILO City – Due to rising cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), 13 barangays in seven districts were placed on “total lockdown” for five days beginning at 6 p.m. yesterday. The city government needed to be stricter in enforcing the community quarantine, said Mayor Jerry Treñas.
COVID-19 cases in the 13 barangays have been steadily rising the past week, according to Dr. Ronald Jay Fortuna of the City Health Office.
“Henceforth, three active COVID-19 cases would be enough to impose a total lockdown. Indi na kita mag-surgical lockdown,” said Treñas.
Nobody would be able to get in or out of the barangays. Except for authorized persons and those needing medical attention, residents are prohibited from leaving their houses.
There is a curfew, too, from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.
The 13 villages were in the following districts:
* Jaro – Simon Ledesma, San Isidro, M.H. Del Pilar
* City Proper – Ortiz, Concepcion
* Arevalo – Sooc
* Mandurriao – Bolilao
* Molo – Calumpang
* Lapuz – Mansaya, Bo. Obrero, Punong, Lapuz Sur
* La Paz – Aguinaldo
Continuing contact tracing will be carried out as well as mandatory random testing for all high-risk and medium-risk contacts of the COVID-19 positive cases in these barangays.
Treñas discussed with the city government’s COVID-19 Team the situation in the barangays prior to issuing Executive Order No. 148 imposing the total lockdown.
In Bo. Obrero, Lapuz, the Balay Dalayunan – a halfway house for abandoned and abused young boys – recorded four COVID-19 cases (two youngsters and two house parents).
“Nakit-an sang team nga kinahanglan strikto kita sa aton obrahon,” said Treñas. “For several weeks sige saka sang cases ta.”
Balay Dalayunan would be placed on a two-week lockdown.
There were four COVID-19 cases, too, at the La Paz Health Center.
COVID-19 can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales.
These droplets also land on objects and surfaces around the person. Other people then catch COVID-19 by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth.
Households in the locked-down barangays would be provided with food packs, according to Treñas.
He, however, clarified that establishments or offices located in these barangays may remain open for as long as their employees are not residents of the barangays.
The lockdown will end at 5:50 p.m. on Sept. 27.
As of Sept. 21, Iloilo City recorded a total of 1,847 cases of COVID-19, data from the Department of Health Region 6 showed.
But with 1,073 cases having recovered and 35 deaths, the city’s active COVID-19 cases stood at 739./PN
